


Nothing Worth The Worry

by h_nb



Series: Brick [9]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Blackmail, Comfort, Dogs, Humor, Knives, Murder, Other, Stabbing, Threatening, Whump, Whumptober 2020, a very good girl, just one dog, surprised, those are funny tags to put next to each other, threats of murder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:59:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27066022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/h_nb/pseuds/h_nb
Summary: Whumptober Day Seventeen: Blackmail
Relationships: Brick (OC)/Aela Bazyli (OC)
Series: Brick [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948501
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Nothing Worth The Worry

**Author's Note:**

> Aela Bazyli is @highqualitynot's character and is written with her permission and help.

The first letter was found in the alley next to the apartment building, tucked between two rusted pipes. Brick assumed it was for them, as it had their name scribbled in thick permanent marker on the front. They frowned, coming to a stop even as their dog, Rara, tugged at the leash to pull them ahead. "One second," Brick muttered, looping the leash around their hand as they opened the envelope and took out the paper inside. They scanned the note, already laughing at the words and letters cut out from fucking magazines or newspapers or whatever. They read it over once, then stuffed the note in their pocket and shrugging, beginning to walk again with Ramen Noodles happily trotting beside them.

They barely thought about the note until they were sitting on the couch later that night, with Aela curled up against their side and Rara playing with one of her toys behind the couch. Empty takeout boxes rested on the ottoman in front of them, and something was playing on the television when Brick remembered, suddenly sitting up and mildly dislodging Aela. "Oh! I forgot to tell you, I think I'm being blackmailed or like, threatened or something."

Aela sat up, eyebrows raised in surprise and confusion. "I've been home for five hours and you're only remembering this now?"

Brick shrugged, reaching into their pocket. "Yeah, cause it's not anything to worry about, whoever's doing this is a total clown. Look, they used fucking like-" they unfolded the letter, handing it to Aela. "-cut out letters, whoever did this has _way_ too much fuckin' time on their hands, printing is like, basically free at a library, isn't it?"

Aela's brow furrowed as they read over the letter, the demands that were being made and the time limit. "Maybe they're just _obsessed_ with you."

Brick laughed loudly. "Ha. Simp."

Aela grinned, still looking slightly confused. "You're not bothered by this at all?"

Brick shook their head, briefly distracted by Rara as she wandered over and jumped up on the couch, plopping down across Brick's lap. "Nah. I'll fuckin'... put a camera over in that alley and watch it if they do anything else, but this is like, the stupidest kind of blackmailing." They took the letter back, reading it over one more time. "Yeah. This clown is threatening to kill _me_ if I don't kill this person, whoever the fuck they want dead. They're not even offering money! They're just fucking dumb."

Aela sighed, scratching Rara's ears. "Well, if you're not worried, I'm not worried, I guess."

Brick hummed in agreement. "They clearly don't know the apartment number, just the building, 'cause they didn't try to mail anything. They definitely don't know enough to be serious about this, or, I dunno, competent." They leaned over and kissed the side of Aela's head. "I'll deal with whoever it is, dunno, I'll tell them to knock it off or I'll kill them, whatever's quickest."

"Alright," Aela said, and Brick unpaused the television, and that was that, for a time.

The second letter was placed two weeks later, and Brick only just managed to catch a hooded figure placing the note before fleeing. They teleported down there instantly, starting to chase after the clown, but the streets grew choked with people and the stranger was faster, slipping ahead of the crowd, and Brick lost them. Frustrated, but still mainly unconcerned, Brick meandered back to the alley and pulled out the second note. They opened it back in the apartment, once again entirely unbothered by the threats the letter seemed to be implying. The person they were being asked to kill, Brick had genuinely looked through their shit, but this guy who ran this software company seemed to be pretty cool and Brick hadn't been able to find stuff on him, so they had given up relatively quickly.

They only mentioned the second note to Aela in passing, and figured that if a third note happened it really wouldn't be worth mentioning at all unless they caught the guy.

No notes were placed for nearly four weeks, and Brick started considering getting rid of the camera.

Then one night, the two of them were walking Rara, nearly at the apartment when their dog paused, sniffing the air and growling slightly. Brick stopped as Rara did, looking around, but Aela kept walking, talking animatedly about something, passing in front of that shadowed alley right next to the apartment. Rara's head turned toward the alley, and so did Brick's just as a hand shot out from the gloom and grabbed Aela's arm, yanking them just out of sight.

"Fuck!" Brick shouted in alarm, immediately dashing into that dark, pulling their knife out of their pocket. Rara barked, held back from going much further by Brick's tight hold on her leash. Brick came to a sudden stop, eyes adjusting to the dark to see Aela a little ways down the alley, being pulled back by a stranger who clearly had a knife to Aela's throat. "Hey!" Brick yelled, heart racing as they messily looped Rara's leash to a pipe jutting out of the wall before rushing after them. "Hey, who the fuck are you?"

"You weren't listening to me!" The stranger yelled, yanking Aela back another pace. Aela yelped slightly, staring at Brick. "Had to take some more drastic measures, so I'm gonna take them hostage until you do what I fucking say!"

Brick stared at him for a moment, frowning slightly. "Apartment Wi-Fi still reaches out here, dude."

"What?"

The rushing noise of static consumed Brick's sense, and when they reappeared they were behind the man, quickly grabbing the hand that held the knife and yanking it away from Aela's throat, disarming him and holding their own knife at the dude's throat. "Right, anyways, you're the clown that's been sending those letters? Dude, how much time do you have on your hands? Those must have taken so god damn long."

The man thrashed, trying to break out of the hold, but Brick held him firm. "Well I have a hell of a lot of more time now that I was fired," he spat. "That's what you do, isn't it? Kill people's bosses?"

"Ooh, I'm getting famous," Brick said with heavy sarcasm. "And wildly exaggerated too, rad. Who are you?"

"I'm Garth Briggs, and my boss is that fucker Josiah Ripley," the man snarled.

"Huh, okay. Lemme check the HR files to see why you were fired, I was looking at them the other week 'cause I thought that maybe hey, Ripley was an asshole, but he seemed chill..." Brick stared off into space for a few moments, before raising their eyebrows and looking back at Garth Briggs. "Oh no, dude you were fired for totally valid reasons, fuck you, actually. 

"What- that shit was exaggerated, it's- it's all lies!" Garth struggled harder, trying to kick at Brick now.

Brick frowned, and shook their head, turning so they could shove Briggs . "Oh no, dude, this is from multiple people. Yeah, fuck you, surprise! Gonna do a reverse of what you asked me and I'm gonna kill you instead!"

"What? No, you're going to kill Ripley or I'll- I'll hire someone else to kill you!" Fear shone in the man's eyes as his head slammed against concrete

"How?" Brick asked, slamming the blade of the knife into the man's gut, covering his mouth with their other hand to keep him from screaming. "You've already been stabbed, pal."

Garth Briggs choked on his own screams and then his own blood as the knife plunged through his body again and again until his body could no longer support itself and crumpled to the ground. 

Brick ripped the knife out for the final time, a smile on their face and blood covering their front. 

"Hey," said a familiar voice as their shoulder was tapped. Brick turned, and saw Aela behind them, Rara's leash in their hand and the dog happily panting beside them. 

"You okay?" Brick said before Aela could say anything else, reaching out to tip Aela's head up and look at where the knife had been pressed to their neck. There was a thin cut that had been bleeding some, but it wasn't serious. When Brick pulled their hand away, a few fingerprints of blood lingered on Aela's skin.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Aela glanced at the still-warm body on the ground. "Guess that's over with now, huh?"

Brick nodded. "I'll take care of the body, you can go on up. I'll deal with this."

"Okay." Brick looked at Aela again, and thought they still seemed a little shaken. Wide eyes as they stared at the body, and their fist was clenched tight around Rara's leash.

Brick leaned forward and kissed their forehead lightly. "I'll be there as soon as I can," they said, smiling with as much reassurance as they had.

Aela nodded, an uncertain smile on their lips. "Yeah. Okay. See you soon."

Brick had picked up the body and teleported away before Aela had even rounded the corner, and it wasn't long until they were back in the apartment, changing into clothes that weren't bloodstained. They walked into the bedroom, smiling fondly at Aela who was already laying down, scrolling through Tik Tok on their phone. 

"Hey, I'm back," Brick said, lying down on the bed, draping an arm around Aela and dropping a light kiss on their shoulder. "Whatcha watchin'?"

They could just barely see Aela's smile as they tilted the phone to give Brick a better view. Brick could feel their partner relax more and more as they held them, slowly working toward leaving the mess of the earlier night behind.


End file.
